Friday (part deux)

Friday was a good day in God’s grace. Work continued on the brick garden structures, digging and beginning to lay the corners and bricks, mix and make mortar, etc., thanks to the help of a strong hard-working man named Emery who also helps out with the ministry. The young boys who hang around us we were happy to put to work, too.

A man also started plastering and priming the wall of the orphanage big room so that we can begin painting to add some color and fun painting of animals, flowers, grass, a happy sun, etc.

Didier’s daughter Elyse is especially excited about bubbles

We hope to be able to get them a 2-burner gas cook-top for Didier’s house and to share with the orphanage (think camping stove but a little better) some time next week but they’re out of stock right now. There are many things we would like to do that we may not have time to, as things take a long time here (running a few errands in town before you know it, it’s 3 or 4 in the afternoon). Josie had a great time teaching Annie, Didier’s wife, how to make jewelry necklaces and earrings, which they loved (here is Annie and her daughters Elyse and Mary).

The Congolese are very hard-working people. This morning as I came out to the porch of the guest house, I saw a mom carrying a 5-gallon bucket of water on her head and another in her arm with a baby on her back in an African wrap that they wear here. Each morning each family carries multiple water containers to the nearest well or water source, fills them up, and then hauls the very heavy water containers back to their place. Gabe and I got to help do the well and water process which is much more grueling than the way most begin their days in America. The well that GCBC helped purchase is a great help to them, and it was neat to see the fruit of our gifts in action and to get to partake (us Americans are playing it safe though with only bottled water for drinking and using water for other things). Their rolling cart got stolen, I guess, so they carry big water jugs by hand, and when you don’t have running water or electricity you realize how much of the world is like and how much hard work the things we take for granted can be.

They don’t eat very much or drink much, usually just one meal a day. To get hot water can take up to an hour to get their little fires going and water boiling, so it is humbling the hard work they do to get their guests warm water each night for their baths and to cook us a meal that is bigger and better than what they cook for themselves. Each day Annie goes into town mostly to buy food for the day (as they have no electricity for refrigerator and it’s expensive to run the generator even 2-3 hours a night). She also spends most of the late afternoon preparing dinner for us and her family, and on Sunday morning rises extra early to prepare meals for the potluck after church, on the day she’s also watching the orphans as Sunday is Mama Angelique’s day off. What gracious and hospitable people!

They have already been a living sermon to me before Sunday of 1 Peter 4:9-11:

Be hospitable to one another without complaint … serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God … whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Our first night here before dinner Didier explained, “I need to wash your hands.” When all you have is a basin and bucket with water it’s hard to wash and soap your hands so they wash each other’s hands (wet them, soap them, rub together, and then they pour water on your hands). It was humbling to have him do that for me, but it was also a good reminder of what our Lord did in washing the disciples’ feet, and it showed to me the way the Lord’s servant Didier is following that example, which is an example for us.

This is what Josie wrote in her blog yesterday, which gives a woman’s perspective:

I ‘helped’ Annie in the kitchen which just meant keeping her company as she cooked while holding a flash light.  Seeing first hand how she cooks is truly humbling.  They eat one big meal a day which takes about 2 hours to prepare because everything is made from scratch.  They also have to shop just about everyday because they don’t have a fridge to keep things cold.  Before they bought their van through the collaboration of a few churches [including GCBC], they walked just about 2 hours every day ONE way to buy the groceries (and then of course haul them back).  Life is so hard for some… 

Back to the cooking, she heats up her water and cooks with coals that she has to prepare daily.  The cook-top of coals sit on the floor as do her pots.  As twilight crept upon us and it began to get dark, she turned on a small flashlight/lantern.  It barely lit up the room.  She essentially cooks in the dark.  We are hoping to go into town soon to see what we can do about buying them a gas cook-top and maybe a propane lantern.  They seemed really excited at the prospect. It’s pricey to start up but we have gift money from church people to help them with that and hopefully it won’t be too much more expensive over the course of a year than coal and will save Annie much time. What hard working people! 

For dinner, Annie prepared an absolutely delicious meal that would easily rival Julia Child’s best.  We had stewed beef with such an amazing flavor made with chopped vegetables and green beans on the side.  Rice and foo foo were served as well.  I had heard of this mysterious food and was quite curious.  I watched her make the foo foo and it is basically these smooth baseball sized balls made of corn and white flours added to first luke warm water then brought to a boil.  She had a special mixing technique with a giant wooden spoon that she used to mix the flour mixture after it had boiled.  She held the bowl with her feet and so gracefully stirred.  It was pretty fascinating.”

Prayer Updates:

- Praise the Lord the Wilmarth twin Visas are finally done by U.S. Embassy and will be hand-delivered by a DHL guy who we’ll meet at the airport Monday!

- Pray for Pastor Didier who went to the doctor Friday night and will go again Saturday morning for blood tests to find out how his fight with malaria is going or if he has something else that has been bothering him. He has been working so hard non-stop to get orphans adopted in the last many weeks and he rarely stops or rests and we pray for wisdom for the doctor Saturday moment in treating him so he can get relief

- Pray for Pastor Didier who is applying for a Visa to visit the U.S. again, but it is hard for the Congolese to get short-term Visas

- Today (Saturday) we are meeting someone from the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa (the capitol) who is in town and had sent her condolences and also offered to meet us and see the orphanage. Please pray for this and that this will be another providential and profitable meeting for the orphanage and for the good of future adoptions

- Tonight we go to dinner at the Bourgmaster’s house and we pray the same for that time as well

- Pray that as I preach at church tomorrow that I would be able to encourage the brethren though I can’t speak their language (Pastor Didier will be translating in French each line, followed by Pastor Peter translating into Swahili)

Here’s the end of day Friday

Friday

Lubumbashi, Fri – Sep 2

This place is starting to feel like home, a little.  We love Didier and his family and their neighbors though longing for our high tech world in ways.  You know, all those high tech things; like running water, valves, toilets that flush with a lever, a toilet seat that isn’t broken in half with no hinge that falls off if you don’t sit on it just right in the middle of night. 

We do love these people though.  What humility and simplicity.  Their expectations are very low and they are just happy to see you.  The highlights of the day are things that we take for granted.  This gives me lots to think about when I consider the life of luxury I live.  I’m going to think about everything differently after this trip.

Last night we gave the children, 10 of them, glow sticks that make bracelets.  They’d never seen anything like that before.  It was fun to watch them swinging their bracelet laden arms glowing with light and hear their voices laughing with glee as they danced around the dark central room in the orphanage.

Today we went to town again to run some errands.  While there we received a call from the Embassy saying that the children’s Visas were ready for pick-up.  What an answer to prayer.  We should have them in our hands on Monday after they make a trip via DHL.  All that should be required is one office visit next week and then we can bring the kids home.  Please pray to that end.

We also got the garden beds started.  Hopefully they will be near the end of construction in a couple of days.  While working we had about 12 boys standing around us watching and “helping”.  I think this was the most exciting event of the month.

Josie spent time today with Annie (Didier’s wife) teaching her to make jewelry.  She had a fabulous time, was very proud of her first necklace and would like a second lesson tomorrow. 

(Gabe and Josie wrote this)

Brandon and Kara are extremely cute and run up to us every day exclaiming “daddy” and “mama”.  We have been told that sometimes adopted children will cry a lot as they are adjusting to a new family.  Kara will be one to fall into that category.  Both children are old enough to remember quite a bit of detail.  Maybe one day they will express it to us.  For now we can expect to see more of what Kara did today.  On two occasions Kara sat in laps, first in Josie’s lap and then mine, and began to slowly break down into a full cry.  We’ll be praying for her a lot as her parents.  I feel bad for the poor girl.  Brandon fell asleep in Josie’s lap tonight, to her delight, leaning on her chest.  I think he will respond differently to the changes but not necessarily with less heartache, just a different expression of it.  He is a very analytical boy and seems to process information in a systematic way.  He’ll make a very organized Wilmarth male, like the rest of us.

Tomorrow we meet with Brooke from the U.S. embassy.  I don’t know her title but she is an administrator of sorts over adoptions.  She wants to see the orphanage and meet with us.  Pray that our interactions will influence future adoptions in a positive way.  Also we will be going to dinner at the home of the Bourgemestre who is the district “overseer”, kind of like a mayor of a region within this big city.  He is in charge of orphans in his district and is beginning to really trust Didier and his orphanage and use them more.  He was glad to know that the adoptive families of these children are real people and that we are Christians and that we have a desire to care for and love them.

Also, potential ministry idea.  There is a new school that is almost done being built down the road.  It is a Christian school and looks nicer that most of the schools in America.  It costs $35 per month for a child to attend.  There are no public schools in the Congo, so if you are too poor to pay you don’t get to go.  Most people here are too poor.  It would be fun to sponsor a child who would like to go to school.

Wilmarths Post

All you ladies reading need to read this post by my friend Josie.  Our lives are so easy!
http://wilmarthjourney.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html

Thursday Recap

Thursday morning I awoke after amazingly actually sleeping 7 hours straight (12:30-7:30 a.m.), something to praise God for and not take for granted since it’s been a week since I’ve had that privilege. My stomach feels better and my soul feels good today as well. Here are some highlight pictures of the last day or two.

Little children with irresistible smiling faces began showing up around our place, hoping we would give them a cracker or something (which we did). Some of them call me “daddy” but I am not sure if they think that is English for “pick me up” because some of the same kids say the same to Gabe (which we did … pick them up that is). How can you resist these faces of kids in the community? I love how dirt on their face doesn’t stop them from smiling :)

Here is a picture of a beautiful young girl and her brother that I’m throwing in just because I like it so much (I don’t know if they are a part of the church community or just passing through, but sure are cute!)

This morning we met Peter’s wife Dorcas and their precious 2-week-old baby who we got to see while she was asleep. We have heard her sweet cry in the morning. We have seen more of her sister Diveen (in purple) who has been staying with her to help with the baby. The man standing to the right of below picture I think is named Stephan and may be related to them as well, but don’t quote me on that. Their beautiful son Nathan is in the front.

I also met that man’s sweet wife and kids who live within a few thousand yards and this is their house which doubles as a pharmacy. The little guy he’s holding was hiding behind mom’s skirt for the pic and he had to pick him up.

I like the symbolic nature of this picture of Kara with Didier on the left who has been her only father figure, one who would have otherwise been a fatherless orphan, now in the hand of her father on the right, which gives Didier such great joy.

Psalm 68:5-6 “A father to the fatherless … God makes a home for the lonely” (NASB, NIV “God sets the lonely in families”)

What an orphanage and ministry and heart Didier has, reflecting the heart of God! The sacrificial self-denying love he has given our family and these other families is truly an inspiration that I would love to share with any of you further sometime if you ask and want to learn more about this ministry.

To help the orphanage with our spare time (that has been limited thus far), Gabe and I began planning the garden project with the help of some of the men here who we met. We have 1,000 bricks to make 4 large raised garden beds (20 feet by 5 feet, 2 feet high) and planned and prepped them, and began some work after we were already quite sweaty from a soccer game with some of the kids pictured above, some of whom are much more skilled than Gabe and I, including an amazing goalie who looked like he was 8 years old, but played like he was on the national team. Several amazing diving saves he made of Sports-center quality. When they scored a goal, some of the kids would celebrate by plopping in the dirt and pumping both arms to make themselves bounce around on their bottom on the ground, stirring up lots of dust, and making us Americans laugh. We made them laugh when I caught a ball between my knees and when Gabe took his hat off to head a ball another time, they roared with laughter.

The most important thing we did today was visit the bourgmaster’s office. He is the man without whom none of the adoptions through Didier’s orphanage could happen, the one who signs papers, approves whether or not a child can go to an orphanage or to parents, etc. (I think he’s somewhat like the mayor but the judge has higher jurisdiction). We got to thank him for allowing Stuart and Jennifer to adopt Jamie and Jordan (who both the Wilmarths and us know and are friends with) and the adoptions he allowed for us as well. We also told him much about the U.S. Adoption process and how much we love and trust Didier and how he is doing this as a labor of love, not asking for money or anything in return for himself, but seeking to get orphans into Christian homes in the U.S. It’s hard to explain by email how huge this meeting was potentially for the orphanage in a positive way, but it was what I had been praying for this whole trip, a lasting impact for the good of many families and adoptions in the future, and I sensed it was. Didier told me the bourgmaster was so happy to hear that Joseph’s (Mark) father was coming and is looking into ways he can help others adopting infants in the future – I think it really touched him for me and the Wilmarths to be there, and it was important for him to have a personal connection with real American families who thanked him for what he was doing and any help he can provide in the future to Didier. He invited us and Didier’s family to dinner at his house Saturday night, which I also sensed was huge. This was a big answer to prayer and may be one of the most significant events for the orphanage, thank you Lord.

Tuesday Recap (Ethiopia)

Going Back a few days:

Tuesday Recap in More Detail

Ethiopia was cooler than I expected for Africa in the summer but I guess that is normal there. It reminded me of Baguio in the Philippines, including the traffic and landscape, unfinished buildings, poverty on the side of the road and pedestrians all over the road, high-rise hotels next to squatter communities (tiny ply-wall houses), and a Mercedes Benz swerving around the guy walking his water buffalo in front of the hotel. As the old song says “everybody’s got a water buffalo” … more true in some countries than others.

We rose early Tuesday to the noise of what Gabe thought sounded like bombs going off, which we later found out was fireworks for a Muslim holiday (thankfully not explosives). During the dark hours you can hear an announcer to a soccer game in the heart of the city, and other festive things on a PA system that remind me of the Philippines. I don’t know if they did calls to prayer in the morning, but we did get a wake-up call from the hotel front desk, scarfed down breakfast and managed to get the last seat on the shuttle to the airport, our biological clocks still off from jet lag and time zone changes (getting more than 5 hours straight sleep hasn’t happened yet for any of us I think). We exited the hotel past lion and cheetah (stuffed and in glass cases in the entryway) and rode to the airport with a nice Congolese lady heading back to her country to work with the elections. She explained to us some of the political dynamics in Congo and was kind enough to help us learn some Swahili (I think she spoke 6 languages or so, similar to Didier). There are many more Muslims in Ethiopia than in Congo.

In the airport I noticed an interesting sign right next to the Restroom sign “Prayer Room for Females.” There was also one for Males, but I guessed my non-Muslim garb and God may not be what they had in mind, so I decided to do my prayer elsewhere while sipping Ethiopian coffee, which is excellent.

The national soccer team of Ethiopia was going through security with us, and Gabe explained to one guy who asked about the guitar that he played Christian music on it, music about Jesus Christ. On the flight, God’s providence allowed each of us to have an exit row seat in 3 different rows for extra leg room and each of us were in the middle seat of our row and able to share about our trip and about Christ with different people. I had printed out the Powerpoint slides of my great-grandfather’s story in Congo (see 8/23 blog post) and was able to share the story and gospel and what it can do with my row mates, while I heard Gabe also speaking a lot about Christ behind me to an African man. A young lady from mainland China on my right not only listened with great interest to my story, but she literally read along with me the entire sermon notes I was writing on my laptop for what I will preach on 9/4/11 in Congo, and I gave commentary and explanation to her along the way and was able to explain the gospel and adoption in ways she had never heard before. I felt like Philip on a “flying chariot” of Ethiopia (Acts 8) explaining Christ to one on the way to Africa.


We touched down for a brief layover in Malawi, which has a landscape you expect to see Simba and Nala and young warthogs in (Lion King, for those of you who don’t have children). Then the final leg of our trip brought us to our final destination. We began this journey at 5:00 a.m. Saturday 8/27 California time, and finally arrived in Lubumbashi, at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Congo time Tuesday afternoon. A grinning open-armed Didier greeted us with a warm Christian embrace and wonderful words in his thick African accent: “welcome friends, to the other side of the ocean.”

The airport is quite chaotic getting through customs and getting out with your bags, but Didier has a friend who works there who escorted us through the mobs out to the parking lot for an unforgettable moment where Josie and Gabe first embraced their twins Kara and Brandon (Gabe and Kara on right below and Josie and Brandon on left).

                                                   Phil, Josie Brandon, Kara and Gabe

                               Happy Boy in his Daddy's Arms, how can you resist loving him!?!

Somehow all of us and Didier and Annie and their 6 kids, the twins, and baby Marie-Claire (Kivren), and our massive luggage all fit in their van. Some things we’re getting used to in Congo:

-          steering wheel on right side of cars

-          pedestrians all over the road, no sidewalks and no one looking where they’re going, walking with their back to you, and your van consistently seems to just miss many by inches

-          parking in front of the mayor’s office and the business building 20 yards away says on its sign in big red letters “Al-Qaida” (I decided not to hang my American face out the window while we waited for Didier to come back to the car :)

-          no toilet paper or toilet seats except in the nice bank or places in town (which makes things complicated when you don’t have Imodium with you and ate some vegetables you probably shouldn’t have the day before)

-          driving over ditches when you park

-          dirt roads that are more like dried out river beds but with more potholes than typical ditches

-          markets that feature large octopus as you walk in

-          pharmacies that are little tin shacks

-          incredible kids who love you and swarm you, especially if you just pumped up a soccer ball and gave it to them

                          Brandon on right, Anita (Didier’s daughter on left, my buddy since I’ve gotten here)

Wednesday

Wednesday Recap

It’s after 9 on Wednesday 8/31 here and though we don’t have any electricity or running water our gracious hosts provided us a generator to run a couple hours a day to charge our computers and gadgets plus a bucket of warm water to bathe with which I just took advantage of (it’s a somewhat complicated process that we don’t need to get into here). Last night I spent writing the tribute to our son and tonight after a full day I have a little time to write a little more about today.

Didier and I had some good conversations last night where I opened up to him and shared some of my feelings and heart to him regarding the loss of my son and some of his story and the story of Joseph and Mark that was posted previously on this blog. He is a tender and sensitive shepherd who I felt bad to make cry and told him this morning I was sorry if I made him sad last night when I started weeping unexpectedly. I told him this morning I want him to have joy in the Lord with me, and that we can be sorrowful yet always rejoicing, not grieving like the rest of the world does who have no hope. Josie helped share the story of Mark Joseph’s name and our family heritage (previous blogs) with Annie on the drive as she speaks mostly French, and she got to see Mark’s American family in a photo album we made for her, a bookmark someone at church made in memory of Mark, and a letter Jaime wrote her thanking her for being such a wonderful mother and not to lose heart. I later got to show Didier the same pictures.

Today we visited the Amani orphanage in town, the place where the Wilmarth’s twins were abandoned. Someday I hope to upload a song the girls at that orphange sang for us. We were blessed to begin to give gifts to the orphanage and Didier’s kids to priceless smiles. I also got to hold baby Marie-Claire / Kivren, who they call “Beni” (blessed) who is blessed to be in the process of adoption for another godly couple.

I was also blessed to get to hold my son’s casket, another one who was blessed “of God” (the meaning of his Swahili name Waleza). It was an honor for me to ride in the back of the van with him, to carry him with Pastor Peter, and to bury him myself. I had written out words to share but they were left behind in the car and God gave me grace to share verbally from the heart at the graveside everything from it I felt was important to share, and to urge any onlookers who didn’t know Christ to trust Him today. I didn’t completely lose it until I said the words at the end “Blessed be the name of the Lord,” with perhaps some of the emotion Job had when he said those words by the grace of God.

Didier and Peter then sang a beautiful song, during which by God’s grace I was able to focus on and comfort Annie more than needing comfort, and beyond my hugs and love, the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 was there in His amazing mercy. Not only is there peace and comfort, there is a joy set before us. My tears that had washed over the casket earlier in the car were now wiped away by God, and as I knelt to kiss and embrace the son I never got to hold, God’s Son was doing even more for me, to Him be the glory.

                                                  Pastor Peter and Pastor Didier singing

Other Evidences of God’s Mercies Being New This Morning:

-          we woke to beautiful African choral music in their sunrise chapel service some 50 yards away

-          the Scripture I had been meditating on last night, Psalm 139:7-16, was playing on Didier’s car stereo as he turned it on for our ride this morning

-          in the Internet café, I noticed a sign above the exit with the words in big letters “God is good all the time.” That certainly proved true today.

It’s nearly midnight now and there’s more to the story but that’s where I must end for now. Please continue to pray … God is working and answering prayers. Pray that Josie and Gabe can get their documents from the embassy very soon (perhaps finalized tomorrow or Friday?). A burden is lifted, and I am ready by God’s grace for what he has for us next to do, in the next page of this chapter. After reading this, I hope you will open your Bible and read Ephesians 3:14-21 and pray for us in light of that passage. There will be more new mercies tomorrow morning (and every morning) from our God of immeasurable love who strengthens the inner man and is able to do exceedingly immeasurably beyond all we ask or think, to Him be the glory.

A Dad's Memorial of a Son he Never Knew

My memorial to my son for the graveside service 8-31-2011 in Lubumbashi, Congo

MARK JOSEPH WALEZA LAYTON (5/20/11-8/24/11)

I didn’t realize how much I could love someone I’ve never seen in person or touched physically. But as Christians we understand our greatest love is for someone we’ve never seen or touched physically – the Lord – and His greater live is present here in great ways.

Each part of our son’s name speaks of God’s grace:

LAYTON

-          he had our name on him since right after he was born

-          he never had another family name

-          he never lived in America but touched many lives in America

-          he had the same last name as my great-grandfather Edwin Layton who was a missionary to the Congo in the 1900s

JOSEPH

-          named after young boy in Congo who Edwin Layton knew and who God used in amazing ways in 1900s in the Congo church (see blog post on 8/23 for more of his amazing story, one of the great stories of missions of its time)

-          that young Joseph died in 1907 but “his works live after him” (Edwin Layton’s memoirs), a short life with lasting impact

-          the biblical Joseph in the Old Testament lived on the African continent and had 2 African-born sons that were adopted in Israel

-          the biblical Joseph in the New Testament was the “adoptive” father of Jesus, his legal father, though not biologically (the legal ancestry of Messiah was very important)

MARK

-          we didn’t know this when we chose this name but Mark was the name of another important young man in Congo church history, one of their first native evangelists (Mark Njoji, see pictures below)

WALEZA

-          Congolese name chosen by Didier, the same name of one of his sons I met today, meaning “of God”

-          Waleza was certainly a gift “of God” (Psalm 127:3)

-          Waleza was always in the special care “of God” (Psalm 139:12-15) and His days were ordained “of God” (Psalm 139:16)

-          We share David’s hope that his son was elected to pass into the presence “of God” where we too will go to him someday though he can’t come to me (2 Samuel 12:22-24), basing our hope not in sentimental feelings but on the sovereign grace and goodness “of God” (Romans 5:6, 8:28-32) to helpless ones such as us

-          We lean on the special care of our Savior to little ones, our Savior who said the kingdom “of God” belongs to “such as these” (Mark 10:13-16, which we must realize is a picture of how all of us are spiritually to enter heaven, helpless, hopeless, dependent, unable to do anything to save ourselves)

A BRIEF LIFE BUT A BLESSED LIFE

- Born into this world May 20, 2011 in Lubumbashi

- Brought into the care of Kitumaini Orphanage right away

- Legally adopted by Phil and Jaime Layton on 6/17/11

- He was never an orphan; he was always in a family

- he knew the loving arms of a mother his whole life (some children never have a loving parent, he had several)

            - Annie Mukotshi told us she would care for him as her own son and she did

- he was loved and cared for by Didier and his wife and Annie, their family, Angelique and her daughter Gracia, and the Kitumaini kids and community

- he had parents in America that loved him more than words can tell

- his 2-year-old white brother Adam knew Mark’s name and picture and smiled when he saw it

- his 5-year-old sister Georgia called him “Marky” and one time when daddy came home from work asked “where’s Marky” (wondering why I hadn’t brought him home yet in the time I was at work ;)

- his 7-year-old sister Annalee would have been the best 7-year-old mommy ever

- his 8-year-old sister Ella loved Mark as much as humanly possible for an 8-year-old to love a brother she’d never met

- above all, he was loved by our Heavenly Father, who knows the pain of giving up His Beloved Son (John 3:16), so that all His adopted children (“whosoever believes”) in Christ shall not perish but rather will share God’s life and infinite love eternally

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

                                                     

                                                                        

                                                                            

                                           

Please keep Phil in prayer.  He is going to be burying our son very soon. It has been planned to be done on Wednesday.  I wish I was there to hold his hand.

Some people from outside the church to be praying for:

- Brooke from embassy is travelling in Lubumbashi this week and we hope she can visit the orphanage and meet us which could be good for future adoptions

- At Mark’s funeral Wednesday will be Mr. Etienne (from another orphanage in town, the one who brought the Wilmarth’s twins to Didier and has been a great help to him)

- Mr. Kantenga (the social man from the municipality)

The Rugged Road Made Smooth

I have not heard from Phil yet... I am sure he is in Lubumbashi.  It is hard not having constant contact.  We have gotten so used to instant access to whatever we want.  It is a good time to wait, trust, and PRAY! 

I was reading the other day and, as usual, the verse was so applicable to where we are at:

"I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know, I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them and rugged spaces into plains."  Isaiah 42:16

Even though we read through the Bible, there are so many truths to discover and re-discover!  His mercies are new every day!  He makes the rugged, bumpy road smooth!

http://www.youtube.com/user/liveoakhome#p/a/FB8F06DE98109E1C/0/B6MBI4d6i0o


Where is the goodness of God in trials, in losing loved ones? How can a good God ...? This message was preached on 4/13/2007 and edited for radio in early 8/2011. In God's providence it is playing on the radio the day before Pastor Phil is burying his son Mark Joseph in Congo and trusting the truths of this precious passage from God's Word.

I. God is Faithful (v. 22-24)

II. God is Good (v. 25)

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=82511024441

About to fly...again!

A picture of the Ethiopian Airport

Phil and Gabe at the Smithsonian during their three hour delay.  This is a Enola Gay (B-29 bomber)- the uranium for the bomb was from Congo...

Blackbird SR-71

Congo is one of the richest African countries in natural rescources. 

They should be sitting on the plane about to take off from Addis Ababa... Hope I have an email from Lubumbashi in the morning!

What to Expect

Here is a video that Stuart took of the "Guest House" on the compound at Pastor Didiers place.

Gives us a small idea what it will be like for Phil, and a huge reminder of how blessed we are!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8fwlilwWgw&NR=1

Biblical Meditations from Ethiopia and About Ethiopia

We are almost to Africa as I write this and hope to send where I can find internet after arrival. Our flight was rerouted to fly over Spain, Northern Africa, and down over Egypt to Ethiopia, rather than the normal more direct route, as weather did end up delaying our connection to Congo until Tuesday AM (leaving around midnight Monday U.S. time). Our flight path today takes us over and many nations mentioned in the Bible. Tarshish in the Bible most think refers to Spain and possible Carthage in North Africa. Some of the other nations we flew over were mentioned in Genesis 10:13, Ludites were African tribes west of the Nile Delta, the Anamites lived in North Africa west of Egypt near Cyrene, the Lehabites are identified with the Libyans, and the Naphtuhites lived in Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta region, accoring to NET Bible Notes). Seba has also been identified in Africa perhaps near the areas we’re flying over as well. Egypt’s role in Scripture is familiar to many, but not as many are aware of the significance of and statements about Ethiopia in God’s Word. Since I have extra time with our longer layover today, I thought I’d share some things a little later in the post about the nation we are staying in, in relation to God’s Word.

We are among the few Caucasians on this flight to Ethiopia (there is also a mission team of 7 or 8 young Americans going to Zimbabwe I think and another humanitarian team to another nation). There is an African baby in the row behind who is about the age of Mark Joseph and I have to confess today has been a little more emotional then yesterday the closer we get, and it’s painful to know I won’t be bringing our little son with me on this same flight coming home that I see these other cute African kids on. It still seems somewhat surreal and the shock and sadness is still fresh, and undoubtedly waves still to come. But I find comfort from the Lord who is “a Man of sorrows and familiar with grief … surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3-4). His mercies were new last morning and will be each day (Lamentations 3, Sunday’s blog post). I am strengthened by the prayers of many on earth, and my mighty Advocate interceding at the Father’s right hand in heaven, and the Spirit’s help in weakness and groans too deep for words. By way of practical physical mercies I was able to get at least 4 hours sleep on this flight, I have emergency row exit legroom, and I have the whole row to myself, and the food and service on Ethiopian Air has been outstanding and far better than my domestic experiences, and the airline is also covering all our meals and lodging for our delays.

Ethiopia is a beautiful country and its people are beautiful, marked by beautiful skin, and a beautiful spirit that seems to be about many of them. An Ethiopian man in our hotel was very friendly to us and as I write there is a sweet couple across the aisle in bulkhead seating with 2 little girls aged 2 and 9 months. They are adorable and are doing quite well considering it’s a 14-15 hour flight. The girls have the cutest braids and smiles that cheer my heart and make me smile – I find it hard to believe any person could look at them in the eyes and not burst into smiles. I am playing peekabo with the older one. They have a secure bassinet in that section that fits into the wall as a baby bed … it brings back fond memories (or at least memories :) of a trip Jaime and I took to Germany when Ella was 2 and Annalee was 6-months. As I post this message we are now checked in to a small hotel in Ethiopia complete with leopard comforters on our beds - I feel like I'm really in Africa now! The city reminds me of Manila, Philippines in many ways, where I spent many years, but here there's not as much traffic and heat.

In God’s providence (different than our plans) our longer route will cause us to miss the only connecting flight to Congo Monday so we will spend the night in Ethiopia then fly to Congo Tuesday morning arriving at noon in Lubumbashi to meet Dider. I sent Didier an email from D.C. airport but am hoping he got the message and doesn’t waste Monday driving to the airport but that God will grant Him instead some rest that day before a busy Tuesday and week. We are concerned for Didier’s health and as you read would ask you say a prayer for his continued and complete healing in every way, and also that we would be efficient in getting done what we need to for the adoption of the Wilmarth twins and not be set back. For now God has chosen to allow us to spend more time getting to know another people who are part of His manifold plan of grace – the Ethiopians. They strike me as a very hospitable, honorable, hard-working people … many of the traits I admire about Filipinos seem to be true of Ethiopians in their own way as well.

God’s plan for the people of Ethiopia is stated in His Word in some special and specific ways (did you know 22 verses in the Bible mention these people, depending on which translation you have?). You may not be reading this blog for a Bible study, but I hope you’ll read to the end of this one and say a prayer for this people group that God cares much about and says much about. When the Bible mentions Ethiopia (or the literal Hebrew Cush in some translations), it’s speaking of a nation that included not only modern Ethiopia, but Sudan and perhaps beyond to the south, and alternate names in ancient times included Nubia and Meroe. History from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome consistently portray the people from the nation Ethiopia/Cush as black-skinned Africans, as some Scriptures also seem to acknowledge and allude to this trait, which became proverbial.

Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.

Jeremiah tells the Israelites (and all peoples) that we cannot change our wicked hearts (Jer. 17:9) that are marked by sin, just as a leopard cannot change its external appearance or an Ethiopian his skin, man cannot change his sin, the most notable thing about him. But God looks past the external things that man finds so notable, He looks to the heart (1 Samuel 16:7), and God can change hearts, Jeremiah argues, and Jeremiah in particular highlights how Gentiles, including black Africans are part of God’s plan of grace.

Ethiopia in the family of Faith in OT Times

Many Bible readers don’t know Jeremiah had a friend who was a black-skinned believer in the Lord from the nation called Cush or Ethiopia/Sudan today. Ebed-Melech befriended Jeremiah and saved Jeremiah’s life and God saved this Ethiopian when the Jews of Israel were destroyed (Jeremiah 38:6-13, 39:16-18). Like another famous Ethiopian later, this man was also a court official with significant responsibility, a eunuch, and a believer in the God of Israel when most of Israel rejected God’s Word.

As I mentioned in a sermon a few Sundays ago, Moses married a wife from this same African nation, according to Numbers 12. This seems to be some 40-years after his marriage to his Midianite wife of his youth, who seemingly had died by then. Possibly this Cushite/Ethiopian wife was part of the “mixed multitude” of Africans and other non-Jews that feared God and came out of Egypt with Israel (Exodus 12:37-38) or part of the foreigners who chose to join Israel and her faith, as the Law repeatedly references. In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron objected to Moses marrying her and question his leadership, but God affirms this marriage and Moses’ faithfulness in all his household. More than one writer has noted how striking it is that when Miriam criticizes Moses as he marries a black African, that God strikes Miriam white as snow (leprous) in judgment. John Piper develops further the implications of that passage for Christians who oppose so-called interracial marriages or families (as an aside, biblically and scientifically there is no such things as “races” as biologically defined, we are all part of one race, united in Adam, so we should get rid of the largely evolutionary terms “races” or “interracial”).

Moses’ wife was not the only Ethiopian/Cushite in the family of faith in the OT. There is also Ebed-Melech mentioned earlier (Jeremiah 39:16-18) and others from Ethiopia who became converted Jews during the reign of Ahasuerus. Ethiopia was part of the kingdom that Mordecai the Jew was given a prominent role over in Esther 8:7-10, 9:3-4, 10:1-3 and Esther 8:17 suggests that people in lands and provinces including Ethiopia became Jews, and celebrated Jewish feasts (9:28-32). In God’s providence, in a day when Haman wanted to exterminate the Jews, God greatly expanded the Jews (including converted Jews) with people from India to Ethiopia apparently coming to the Jewish faith! Acts 2:4 and 2:10 records nations of Africa that had God-fearing Jews and proselytes (ethnic Africans who had come to the faith of Israel and come under its laws and worship).

Ethiopia in the New Testament

What God was doing in the days of Esther, a book where He’s not mentioned by name, was spreading His name abroad, so that we read many centuries later of God-fearing “Jews and proselytes” from several nations on the continent of Africa (Acts 2:4, 2:10; Libya/Cyrene on North Africa east of Egypt). “Proselytes” included ethnic Africans who had come to the faith of Israel and come under its laws and worship. One of these Africans carried the cross for Jesus (Mark 15:21) and other Africans from the nations in Acts 2:10 were instrumental evangelists in the early church (Acts 11:20) and prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1, one from Cyrene, another named Simeon who was nicknamed “black,” which NET Bible Notes says is a Latin term meaning black in complexion).

As the gospel spreads from Judea to Samaria in the first part of Acts 8, the first representative of “the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 commission) who is witnessed to is a man from Ethiopia who “had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah” (from the Jewish Scriptures, Acts 8:27-28). A man named Philip (great name by the way :) meets him and explains the gospel. This Ethiopian court official of the queen of Egypt who had perhaps converted to the Jewish faith earlier now converts to faith in Christ in that chapter. Early church tradition says he brought Christianity into Ethiopia where it spread and churches were soon founded. This study has stirred the heart of another Philip for Africa!

Prophecies about greater salvations for Ethiopia in the future?

In Genesis 12:3 God promises Abram that all nations will blessed in him (gospel and salvation blessings in Christ, according to Galatians 3:8). In the context of Genesis 12, the “nations” specifically included Cush, which is listed first among other nations in Africa in Genesis 10:5-6, and 13. In Psalm 68 there is a prophecy that along with gifts from foreign kings (v. 29) and envoys from Egypt, the nation of Ethiopia or Cush will soon or quickly stretch out her hands to God (v. 31, image of submission and worship). One translation says Ethiopia will “voluntarily offer tribute to God.” Psalm 87:4 further includes Ethiopia among nations who know God (or will come to know God, if taken prophetically). The text seems to describe believers from Ethiopia and other nations as viewed by God as if they were natural-born Israelites.

Amos 9:7 is even more striking:‘“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?” Declares the LORD.’ (NKJV)

In this prophecy the God of Israel seems to be saying that He cares for and has a future plan for the Ethiopians just as He cares for Israel and has a future plan for Israel and the nations (v. 9). Nations besides Israel will be called by Yahweh’s name (v. 12, an expression for special blessings and relationship, especially in regards to salvation). It’s interesting that Amos 9 is quoted in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 as demonstrating that God bringing Gentiles into the church equally with Jews fits with OT prophecy.

Ezekiel 38 lists Ethiopia (v. 5) in the context of nations who will come to know that the Lord is Yahweh (LORD, v. 23). Isaiah 18 is addressed to the land deeper in Africa beyond the rivers of Ethiopia or Cush (v. 1), a people tall and known for their smooth skin (something that stood out to me), a powerful nation feared by others (v. 2). Isaiah speaks of a time after God’s judgment in Isa. 18:7: “At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the LORD of hosts From a people tall and smooth, Even from a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation [one translation says “of strange speech”] Whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, even Mount Zion.

Some might argue that began to take place in Bible times, with Ethiopians coming to Zion/Jerusalem to worship like the Ethiopian in Acts 8, but some of the passages seem to go further with a fuller fulfillment still to come. Could it be the explosive recent growth of Christianity in Africa (arguably more than on any continent in any century of history in the rate it is growing there since 1900) is fulfilling prophecy and is part of the fullness of Gentiles/nations God saves before He’s done with Israel and the world (Rom 11:26-27)? Zephaniah 3:8 says when God gathers nations in the end times, it’s not just for judgment on nations, Zephaniah 3:9 says “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the LORD, To serve Him with one accord [NIV “shoulder-to-shoulder”]. 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers …”

From the heart of Africa, south of Ethiopia (including Congo?) worshippers will call on the name of the true Lord, and we get to meet some of them! May the Lord haste that day when worshippers from Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo, and beyond and every nation are worshipping the Lord shoulder-to-shoulder with us and all God’s multi-ethnic family singing, “salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-10)! I look forward to worshipping with some of my African brothers and sisters in Christ very soon! I hope this encourages and excites some of you as it has blessed my heart.

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD

This song keeps playing over and over in my head. I heard it off one of our kids praise Cd's awhile ago. But now the words ring true in my heart.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

And blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name
I will bless Your name, Lord

You can listen to it if you've never heard it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp11X6LKYY


Right now I assume Phil and the Wilmarth's are flying over the ocean. I never heard when they actually took off.
-Please pray that they may be able to get their connecting flight in Ethiopia. Otherwise they will have to stay the night there and flight to Lubumbashi on Tuesday.

Great is Thy Faithfulness - A Sermon from a Different Kind of Platform Today

In God's providence I woke up at 4:30 this morning and began to meditate on God's mercies that are new every morning and had time to write another entry before we head to the airport. Even in storms, God is there, as are His evidences of mercy. God's "travel mercies" have been on us, and though other areas have been hit by hurricane Irene, as of now it appears our flight to Ethiopia is on schedule. Of course all things are always on schedule in the timing of the God who holds hurricanes and all things in his hand.

Lamentations 3:20 (ESV)
20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
… 31 For the Lord will not cast off forever, 32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not willingly [literally “from the heart”] afflict or grieve the children of men.
… 37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

“Where is the goodness of God when we lose a loved one? How can a good God _____________ (you fill in the blank)? One of Jaime’s friends last year suffered the heart-wrenching pain of losing her unborn baby – how is God’s goodness and faithfulness demonstrated in death of a dear little one?”

That’s how I began a sermon I preached on that passage at our church 4/13/2007 and it was edited for our church radio program in early 8/2011. In God’s providence I believe it is playing this Sunday morning at 6:30 and Tuesday 8/30 at 4:00 p.m. on KFIA 710 a.m., the day before I am preparing to bury my son, a timely reminder of God’s timeless truths and timing. The 2nd half will air the week I am preparing to come home (you can also listen to it online at below links). God is still faithful and God is still good, which I am preaching to myself.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=82511024441
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=8251102732

I’m not in my church this Sunday as I travel to Congo but thought it fitting to pass along some excerpts from the above sermon, for such a time as this, which hopefully will minister to some in this different type of pulpit and platform God has me in today:

“… how is God’s goodness and faithfulness demonstrated in death of a dear little one? I’ll come back to that story later, but I want you to know that the how questions are part of the book of Lamentations. In fact, the Hebrew name of this book is their word for “How” (ekah) an exclamation of dismay …

“After our great national trauma of Sept. 11, 2001 when the towers fell, so many died and the goodness of the future was called into question, many Christian communities in their hurt, harrow, and despair turned for solace and guidance to an ancient and rather obscure book of the Bible Lamentations. In this book we journey into the dark, dusty, and despairing corners of human hearts, into those times in our collective experience that we would rather forget or avoid. Yet as a people of faith we believe that our God gives us the resources to help us refrain from avoiding or denying the pain and the tragedy. We can grieve, we can cry out. Sometimes we may even clench our fists and cry out why under the conviction that our God cares for us and loves us enough to speak to us even in tragedy … on the cross Jesus gave a powerful answer to the questions proposed by this book of the Bible. In the midst of the most desperate lamentation, mourning the worst tragedy, our God is there, He is with us.”

… We as human beings may have time of great discouragement, or even depression – it is then that we must remember and trust and cling to God’s attributes and character. Our hope is not based on our circumstances or what we can see or our feelings, it is based on what we recall and know about God. We dwell on His attributes and what we know to be true about him, and that is what the author does in the following verses.

… Thomas Watson published All Things for Good in 1663, one year after he and about 2,000 other pastors were ejected from their churches by the Church of England and suffered great hardship and suffering. He speaks from personal experience, but more importantly from a deep understanding and love of God and Scripture, of how this truth was not only theoretical but his heart confidence was in the good God who works all things, including sinful actions and suffering, for His glory and our ultimate good

“No vessel can be made of gold without fire; so it is impossible that we should be made vessels of honour, unless we are melted and refined in the furnace of affliction … As the painter intermixes bright colours with dark shadows, so the wise God mixes mercy with judgment” (p. 26)

“Luther said that he could never rightly understand some of the Psalms, till he was in affliction … A sick-bed often teaches more than a sermon. We can best see the [ugliness of our] sin in the glass of affliction. Affliction teaches us to know ourselves. In prosperity we are for the most part strangers to ourselves. God makes us know affliction, that we may better know ourselves” (p. 27)

“Afflictions work for good, as they are the means of loosening our hearts from the world. When you dig away the earth from the root of a tree, it is to loosen the tree from the earth; so God digs away our earthly comforts to loosen our hearts from the earth.” (p. 29)

“Do not mistake me; I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse, but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God dispose[s] and sanctif[ies] them … It is one heart-quieting consideration in all the afflictions that befall us, that God has a special hand in them: ‘The Almighty hath afflicted me’ (Ruth 1.21) … [Job said] The Lord hath taken away.’ Whoever brings an affliction to us, it is God that sends it.” (p. 25)

The great saints of the past believed the reformed doctrine of God’s predestining all things, and that everything ultimately was from him. God’s sovereignty was not an abstract subject for debate in theological chat rooms, it was means for survival

Spurgeon: "It would be a very sharp and trying experience to me to think that I have an affliction which God never sent me, that the bitter cup was never filled by his hand, that my trials were never measured out by him, nor sent to me by his arrangement of their weight and quantity” (see note 51 on Piper’s online biography)

George Muller when his wife died preached her funeral sermon from Psalm 119:68: "Thou art good and doest good."

Sarah Edwards, when she heard that her husband Jonathan had died of a smallpox vaccination at the age of 54, she wrote to her daughter: "What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness, that we had him so long. But my God lives; and He has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left us. We are all given to God; and there I am and love to be."

Going back to a dear friend of my wife’s who I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon lost her child. How does the truth of this message work itself out in real life in our day and age?

Here is one example (and notice not only a high view of God’s sovereignty, but notice the affirmations of God’s goodness through the trial):

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:47:51 -0700 (PDT)
From:
Subject: "The blow of His hand"

Dear Friends,

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. There is nothing outside His care and I am thankful for His goodness to me and my family. Two days ago, I started to spot and was able to see the doctor today to check if [our] Baby was still alive. It was obvious to me as the ultrasound magnified my little bundle of joy that my baby was with the Lord. The Lord took His child home ten days ago and my body is now slowly rejecting the baby. It was a sad moment but I thank the Lord for His goodness and His love that allowed this to happen from start to finish. My baby's work is done. The world may say "It was not meant to be" but I say yes it was. For the Lord, used this little one to teach me a life lesson in trusting Him. I am thankful that I can say that what Jesus did for me on the cross, that my Heavenly Father is my shepherd, my provider, my protector, my comforter, and my all in all.

The Lord has shown His goodness these last two weeks. Not knowing I had lost the baby, He alllowed for my heart to be prepared to be comforted by a message written by a woman who almost lost her baby. She writes that no matter what the end result was in the life of her child, that she was to rest in His hand and trust in Him. My thoughts dwelled on God's sovereignty character and that all He allows works together for my good and His glory. In His goodness, He has allowed for me to slowly lose the baby with no major bleeding or cramping but I am particular in awe that He did not allow for me to lose the baby any other week but this week of which [my husband] has off from his teaching job. What amazes me the most about our Lord is care, love and perfect timing. I started to spot on Monday, of which [my husband] had off from both jobs … I been able to manage with the boys on Tuesday and today with the Lord grace and [my husband’s] help during the day, but tomorrow, he will be off again from both jobs which will be helpful because I am schedule for a DNC. All, that to say, God is so gracious and good to care for me and my family during this sad loss in our lives. Praise the Lord.

Thank you for praying for [our] Baby … God has answered our prayers in more ways than you know.

In Spurgeon’s book, Beside Still Waters, he writes "Some have learned to trust the smile of His face, but they must also learn to trust the blow of His hand." As we all well know, both are for our good and His glory. This quote was written in the woman’s article whose message encouraged me and was used to prepare me for this day.

To God be the Glory,